Decomposing body found in bushes in Riviera Beach

July 14, 2010|By Andrew Marra, The Palm Beach Post

RIVIERA BEACH — A man's body lay decomposing for days in an alley in a Riviera Beach neighborhood before being discovered Wednesday, police say.

Neighbors had noticed a foul smell and had even searched the area for what they figured was a dead animal but never found the decomposing body of a man lying in bushes and underbrush behind the 1100 block of 35th Street.

"My husband said it was probably a dead rat," said Chavela Graham, whose property line ends just feet from where the man was found by a city worker. "The stench was getting worse."

It was not clear how long the dead man had been in the underbrush or how he died, Riviera Beach police spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown said.

But judging from the body's advanced state of decomposition "he appears to have been here for several days," she said.

The county Medical Examiner's Office will perform an autopsy to identify the man and determine how he died. Police suspect foul play but said they do not know if the man was murdered.

Neighbors gathered in Graham's backyard to watch police at work in the alley. A local man who offered to try to identify the dead man was told by an officer not to bother; the body was decomposed beyond identification.

Brown said a city worker discovered the body about 9 a.m. while patrolling the alley for garbage and debris.